Spain boss Vicente del Bosque admits a round of 16 clash against Italy is not the tie they wanted after a defeat to Croatia saw the defending European champions finish second in Group D.

A late winner from Ivan Perisic sealed a 2-1 comeback victory for the Croatians, who usurped Spain to finish top and leave Del Bosque's side with a repeat of the Euro 2012 final against Italy in Paris on Monday.

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Alvaro Morata's early goal had given Spain the lead but Nikola Kalinic equalised just before half-time.

Spain defender Sergio Ramos saw a penalty saved and Perisic finished passed David De Gea at his near-post to complete a memorable comeback for Ante Cacic's side.

Spain are now in the same half of the Euro 2016 draw as Italy, Germany, France and England and Del Bosque conceded facing Italy so early on was not on his agenda.

"We will try and recover as well as possible from this setback and be in as good condition as possible on Monday.

"Even today we didn't play badly but this is the result and we need to prepare to play against Italy.

"The players were sat in silence. They don't enjoy losing.

"I'm not going to defend our performance excessively but I think we played quite well. It was just one slip of concentration at the end.

"I don't have any complaints about the players. We have time to analyse what the game against Italy means.

"We're still in the competition, we are not on the path we wanted to be but we have to rise to the situation."

Everything appeared to be going to plan for Spain, who had not lost a European Championship game since 2004, when Morata stole in to tap home Cesc Fabregas' seventh-minute cross.

But Kalinic flicked home a near-post cross before the break to level the game and things continued to go Croatia's way when Danijel Subasic kept out Ramos' penalty after David Silva had been fouled.

And it was Croatia who ended the night as group winners as Kalinic found Perisic, whose low drive beat De Gea.

Croatia coach Cacic made five changes ahead of the game and was pleased with the way his players refused to be overawed by the Spanish but knows topping the group does not guarantee an easy round-of-16 tie.

"The key to the game is that we did not lose faith and confidence," he said.

"We were fresher than the Spanish in the second half. We kept hope in our chances against a great team.

"It's an important victory because it is against the reigning champions and it paves the way more than if we finished in second place. But that is only on paper."

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